Headway Arts Workshop Methodology

You could say in principle 'Cocreation' is something people do everyday - we make things with others - meals with our families, plans with our colleagues, products with our clients - but we don't always conciously focus on how this benefits our relationships, our confidence in dealing with situations or identify what we have learned from the experience.

When the idea of exploring our work as 'Cocreation' first emerged we looked at the many meanings of this term and how it applied in eclectic settings. During the writing of what was to become our 'CocreART' project bid, after much thought & discussion, Fran then boiled down all our ideas into a definition: 'working together toward a common creative goal'. 

During the UKCocreART Mobility December 2011 the project required us to continue to our exploration of Cocreation. Using the medium of visual arts I devised and led a workshop which would enable this 'working together towards a common goal'.  I invited learners to cocreate an artwork inspired by the collective experiences had during our UK mobility.  My thinking was that we could collect 'found materials'. Items or momentos of our travel and incoporate these into a finished artwork - an example of 'cocreation' and an image reflecting our collective experience. This process was begun during UKWorkshop 1 on the first day of the mobility where we collected items from The Alnwick Garden and Banburgh beach.

During UKWorkshop 2 I offered to the group a large blank canvas and in supplement to found items, a collection of simple accessible (not difficult to use) collage materials all relating to experiences so far (e.g. materials used in costumes seen earlier in the programme and collected together by Chris). I also offered the idea that as a starting point and unifying theme we might use the symbol of a hand inspired by our project logo, as this image had already been cocreated in a previous workshop. Again this is an accessible image.  It is a meaningful, recognisable, symbolic, architypal image, universal to all peoples. They could choose/choose not to use these materials/ideas. It is important that there is freedom to creative thinking.  The group might have come up with something totally different but equaly as valuable and relevant. To dismiss ideas without exploration or group negotiation would be to loose the sense of creative freedom, spirit of cooperation and environment of exploration. If members of the group had wanted the work to go a completely different way then it would have been good working practice for me as facilitator to explore that path and negotiate it's inclusion within the collective thinking.

The learner group was made up of our project management group, international learners from all partners countries including learning disabled delegates.  I felt it was important that not only did we all work together towards a common creative goal but that we also worked in Equality. Ideally we would have all worked closely together around 1 table - but with a group of 35 this was impractical! No Distinction was made between staff and students/group members, age, abilities or status, we worked on tables which also mixed up the nationalities. So thus:

No heirarcy 

All are learners 

All are equal 

All are respected

All contibutions are valued 

All can learn from each other 

All are in Cocreation  

Within the positive and safe space of this cocreation people are free to open their minds to learn, relax, experiment and escape expectations, preconceptions, judgements.

When it was time for UK Workshop 3.  The final presentation. Once everyone had worked on the pieces, trying out different materials, having time to reflect over their experiences, creating imagery symbolic to them, sharing thoughts with the rest of the group, contributing their piece of the collective collage. I invited people to arrange them on the canvas in a place of their choosing - thus cocreating the whole, final presentation 'CocreART'. This happened with an easy relaxed process which I believe showed the cooperative spirit we have all worked to develop within the group.  We were in a state of relaxed cocreation, happy to give and take, to offer and recieve,  without lots of facilitation neccessary and people organised the collage carefully together. There was no akward negotiation needed everyone was happy with the finished placings. My job as workshop director/facilitator was made very easy by an excellent and cooperative group of learners.

So in summation, our 'Cocreative' methodology here at Headway Arts is explored somewhat above. I hope we offered a workshop programme which met the project objectives and reflected the collective learning somewhat - symbolically through visual art.

Other workshop learning outcomes which could be discussed further:

• cocreated artwork - marked the learning journey through symbology, a cocreative process & product
• furthered european understanding - low focus communication with different nationalities of all backgrounds
• social inclusion - international socially inclusive lifelong learning during workshop
• confidence & communication - meeting & understanding new people and exchange of different culture, ideas and active learning, 
• different practices & openmindedness - to new methodology & alternative ways of learning, both high and low focus or 'by product'
• creative thinking - what it brings to learning methods

Please do post responses, questions, quotes, any commentary or feedback.  We will also need this for our final reporting!

Now somethinkg to think about for ~Turkey: The next step is comparing our practices - now we have seen how partners are working, what practical things have we learnt?

I'll leave you with that one!
.....Farewell for now dear partners

Allie

Alison Walton-Robson
Creative Director